Waldner: Brian Quinn backs NCAA hoops recommendations

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Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice led the Commission on College Basketball, which released a 60-page report Wednesday, seven months after the NCAA formed the group to respond to a federal corruption investigation that rocked college basketball. (Darron Cummings/The Associated Press)

Corrupt as a blanket statement for all 351 Division I schools playing basketball is not fair to schools ranging from Loyola Marymount University to UC Riverside to Harvard.

However, at the tip of the pyramid, in the so-called Power Five Conferences — the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC — a scandal ranging from mess to cesspool has been exposed by a federal corruption investigation.

Yes, we are talking about you, Louisville, USC and North Carolina, among others.

This is why the Commission on College Basketball, chaired by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was formed by the NCAA to provide the schools and the governing body with a roadmap to respectability.

The blue-ribbon panel, predictably, called for more enforcement, harsher penalties and an end to one-and-done.

Brian Quinn agrees.

“Something needs to be done,” he said.

Quinn was a basketball and baseball star as an undergraduate at LMU when it was Loyola University of Los Angeles.

He was athletic director at his alma mater and Cal State Fullerton.

He was inducted into the West Coast Conference Hall of Honor during the WCC postseason basketball tournament last month.

He will be inducted into the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame in two months in Washington, D.C.

Although given only a little more than seven minutes to form his thoughts, while the august commission had seven months, he has been immersed in this for most of his life.

“Will the schools support the recommendations?” Quinn asked.

This is the question of a realist who knows the win-at-all-costs mentality rampant in college athletics, not just basketball.

History tells us university presidents are quick to demand a level, fair, ethical, law-abiding atmosphere. The same presidents, pushed by deep-pocket donors, are just as quick to defend and support coaches who trash the rules.

Penalties with sharp teeth are necessary. An independent enforcement arm is necessary. That’s the easy part.

Reeling in agents, travel teams, coaches, athletic directors and shoe companies also is necessary. That’s more difficult. But doable. If the presidents stand firm.

One-and-done is a focal point for many fans. Quinn is on board.

“They do it right in baseball,” he said. “Go from high school to pro ball or go to college for three years. If you go to school for three years, it is not an academic sham; you are not faking going to college.”

This brings us to the NBA and the NBA Players Association. Will the owners buy into switching to the baseball model? Will players’ agents, experts that they are at manipulating their clients, buy into new rules?

Pressure can be applied, via public outrage and, if necessary, by calling on assistance from Congress, like when the lawmakers became involved in baseball’s steroid epidemic.

“I’ve got some crazy ideas,” Quinn said.

He starts by spending some of the NBA’s money.

“Basketball needs to adopt baseball’s minor league system,” he said. “Baseball has different levels (from Rookie League up to Triple-A). Basketball needs that for players who do not want to go to college. The NBA, with all it’s money, can afford it.”

The Quinn Crazy Theory takes it to another level for the player with far too much confidence in himself.

“Let a kid who thinks he can play pro ball do it for a year,” he said.

What happens to players who discover they are not ready to play with the big boys and/or they are not mature enough for the lifestyle?

“Let them test the waters for one year and then go to college and play there,” he said. “They would lose a year of eligibility and they would not be allowed to return to pro ball for three years.”

The bonus would be they would have time to become true students taking advantage of a college education, which is not so crazy at all.

Clearing out the mini-notebook

Background check: As he transitions to the NFL, Josh Rosen is going from one bright offensive coordinator in Jedd Fisch at UCLA to another in Mike McCoy with the Arizona Cardinals. McCoy and Todd Studer split the QB duties at Long Beach State in 1991, the last year the 49ers played football. …

More background: Sam Darnold’s offensive coordinator with the New York Jets will be Jeremy Bates, the USC offensive coordinator before Darnold arrived on campus. Bates went to Seattle with Pete Carroll, only to be fired after one season with the Seahawks. …

Bottom line: The second annual Southern California Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame induction dinner is May 6 at 5 p.m. at the Highway 39 Event Center in Anaheim. Former Mira Costa High star Nina Matthies will be honored along with the posthumous inductions of Flo Hyman (Morningside High and El Camino College) and Mike Bright (Mira Costa and ECC).